I believe that all treatment goals need to be functional and appropriate for a child. Treatment for CAS is not "cookie cutter" and is tailored specifically to your child's needs. In my treatment room, my goal is to have parents actively involved so that they can use skills they have learned throughout the week in a consistent basis. My hope is that you will become an "honorary SLP" for your child to problem solve and engage in critical thinking skills to understand why certain words or situations were challenging and what needs to be modified to increase success.

Much of treatment is play based, I strongly believe that when a child is engaged and having fun success increases. For example, if we are working on the word "fish", we might actually try to catch fish using a magnetic rod in a fish pond. Using principles of motor learning, we will work on sounds, words, and phrases in a way that promotes success and neuro-changes. I use a hierarchy approach where we move from most support (saying the word target together) and move towards spontaneous productions. Of course, this usually is not in one session, but our data and tracking helps us know when to increase independence.

Treatment sessions are usually 45 minutes in length and we target 3-5 goals (increasing sound repertoire, word/phrases, syllable shapes, prosody). After, I will debrief with the family and talk about what practice should look like until we meet again. I am very specific in how to practice (say this word at imitation level, this cue was helpful) to maximize success.